Friend Or Foe?
by Baxter54132
Summary: Tashigi is Zoro's enemy, or is she? Being confused never helps in dangerous situations, but will Tashigi stick with the marine code, or will she go with her gut instinct? One-Shot ZoTash LuNa


Yay for One Piece! I was sitting all bored in my first hour class thinking, 'wow, I don't know what to write about,' then I was like, 'I know! I'll write a ZoTash from One Piece.'

So here we are. A little break from my Fullmetal Alchemist story I guess. I hope you all enjoy this longish one shot.

Disclaimer: One Piece does not and will never belong to me, it is a shame… but true. If I did own One Piece, Zoro and Tashigi would have gotten together a long long time ago.

Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi

"I'm bored," Luffy complains as he slouches over the dining room table in the Going Merry's dining room. "Sanji, make me some food."

Sanji, who is washing dishes in the corner, shakes his head no, "You just ate thirty minutes ago Luffy, I'm sure you can wait a little longer."

Luffy rises from the table, grumbling under his breath about how he's hungry and tired. He heads outside, leaving Sanji in peace and quiet for a short time.

The first person Luffy runs into when he goes outside is Nami. She is looking up at the sky, a perplexed expression on her face. She holds one finger up and mutters, "No wind," to herself.

Luffy mimics Nami jokingly, but she glares viciously at his horrible imitation of, "No wind," and proceeds to bop him over the head with her fist.

"This is serious Luffy," she scolds, "The wind has vanished, and we are going to have to row."

Luffy nods and turns towards the rest of the boat. "Oi! Nami says we have to row!" A green head appears from the crow's nest above them.

"You don't have to yell Luffy," the marimo hisses angrily. He climbs down from the row's nest, rubbing the sleep from his eyes when he reaches the bottom.

Nami scoffs, "You were probably asleep Zoro, it's a good thing that Luffy's yell woke you up." Zoro doesn't respond, choosing to stand next to the right oar and be silent.

Robin emerges onto the deck next. "I heard yelling, did something happen Senchou?" she asks casually.

At the sound of Robin's voice, Sanji burst out of the dining room. "Robin-chwan! I heard the yelling too, have no fear! I will protect you!"

Robin smiles slightly, "That you cook-san."

Finally, Usopp and Chopper come up from the men's sleeping quarters, one looking very excited, and the other not so much.

"We get to row?" Chopper asks enthusiastically, bouncing from hoof to hoof in place.

Nami nods, "Chopper and Luffy will be on the left oar, and Zoro and Sanji will be on the right oar. Usopp will go to the crow's nest to keep an eye open for danger."

"Hai," the entire group responds and splits into their groups. They go to their oars and begin the rowing process. Thirty minutes go by uneventfully when suddenly…

"NAMI!" Usopp yells down from the crow's nest, "A marine ship is coming, and they are moving in fast from our rear!"

Nami grabs her binoculars and runs to the back of the boat, but she doesn't even need her binoculars to see the large marine ship chugging toward them at full speed, powered by who knows what. Nami races back around to the front of the boat, "Row faster!"

Luffy nods, but takes a moment to check out the other boat. "That's smoky's boat," he says confidently.

The whole crew groans, Smoker and Tashigi are constantly showing up, and are starting to become a pain. The crew had just fought with them on the previous island, and snuck away later that night. Apparently they weren't sneaky enough.

No amount of rowing can beat a real propulsion system, and eventually Smoker's boat catches up with the Going Merry.

The boat pulls around the right side of the Merry and keeps even pace with it.

Suddenly, a bright light emits from the Marine's boat, blinding the crew. Only Usopp, who is wearing his special sunglasses, is unaffected. Too bad he isn't paying attention to what is going on around him instead of playing with his slingshot.

The light eventually fades away and the crew blinks multiple times to get the little dots out of their vision. Smoker's boat has pulled away, and is racing away from the Merry at full speed. Nami watches the boat leave, and then turns to look at the crew. "Oh no... Where are Sanji and Zoro?" A sweatdrop drips down her face as she realizes what happened.

_On Smoker's Ship_

Tashigi hauls her two new prisoners below ground by their feet, peeking behind her to make sure that they still can't see. They are starting to come-to, so Tashigi pauses to slap handcuffs onto each of them before continuing to drag them towards their cell.

"Sanji…"

"Yes marimo?"

"Where are we?"

Tashigi stops walking and turns to snap at the prisoners, "Shut up Roanoa, you too cook." She starts moving again with a huff.

"Ooh, she told you."

"Didn't you hear her curly-brow? She said to shut up."

Finally arriving at the cells, Tashigi nudges the gates open and throws each of the pirates into their own personal cells. She slams the barred gates shut and whips out her keys, locking each gate into place.

For the first time so far, Tashigi looks over the prisoners. Sanji avoids eye contact, so Tashigi shifts her gaze to Zoro. He bores his eyes into hers, slightly unnerving her. Tashigi blinks once before looking down at her shoes. Still feeling Zoro's intense gaze on her, Tashigi leaves the room slightly flustered. She composes herself in the hallway, and then heads down to Smoker's office to make her report.

Once there, she knocks on the door twice, and hears, "Come in," from behind the door. Tashigi pushes the door open and enters the spacey office.

Smoker motions for Tashigi to stand in front of him as he exhales his cigar smoke. "How did it go?" he asks.

"We now have two of the straw hats in our possession, the cook, Sanji, and the first mate, Roanoa Zoro. They are currently handcuffed and locked in separate cells. We can have them mobbed to different rooms as well if you wish."

Smoker thinks for a moment, taking in another puff of smoke. "Leave them, they are here merely to draw in the rest of their crew. I will capture Monkey D. Luffy, even if we have to use these low measures to do it. For the time being, I am putting the two prisoners under your care."

Tashigi's eyes widen, "Sir, with all due respect, isn't that a job that any one of our marines could do?"

"I don't trust our prisoners with any old marine. I know that you are strong enough to handle them if anything were to happen."

Tashigi nods in resignation, "Yes sir."

Tashigi exits the office and heads back to the cell room, it's about time to check up on the prisoners.

_On the Going Merry_

"They are gone, we are going to die!" Usopp runs around the mast of the Going Merry, arms waving sporadically in the air. Chopper chases after him, panic filling his eyes as he hears Usopp's words.

Nami watches them run, a tick mark flashing on her forehead. "Stop!" she hisses angrily, reaching out to grab Usopp and Chopper as they run by. "We are not going to die."

"Oh…" Chopper accepts Nami's words over Usopp's and his brain kicks in, allowing rational through to once again control his mind.

Luffy plops down on the guardrail and clears his throat, signaling for everyone to stop talking. They comply, and turn to face their captain. "We are going after them," he states.

As if on cue, the wind howls and the sails catch, launching the ship forward.

_1 hour later on Smoker's ship_

"Would you stop?" Zoro inquires, his back resting against his cell wall as he tries to get comfortable.

"Stop what?" Tashigi shoots a confused look at the swordsmen.

Zoro narrows his eyes into slits, "Stop staring at me damnit!" Zoro crosses his recently handcuff less arms. Tashigi had taken them off after taking away his swords.

Tashigi scoffs, "Why would I stare at someone with such an ugly face?"

Zoro stands up and stomps over to the barred door separating himself and Tashigi, "Oi, you were the one staring, don't except me to know the answer."

Tashigi takes a step forward, eyes lit with fire from the argument. "I wasn't staring, you are in no position to be making accusations Roanoa."

Zoro scoffs, wrapping his hands around the bars in order to lean in toward Tashigi. "I wouldn't be here if the marine's didn't use such a dirty trick."

Tashigi leans in as well until she is almost nose-to-nose with Zoro. "Did you think I enjoyed that?" she hisses angrily. "Not all marine's, Smoker-taicho and myself included, believe in the low ways that most marine's operate. When an admiral puts a new pirate catching machine on your boat and says, "Take it out for a test spin against the straw hat crew," it's not like we could say no." The two fall silent, simply glaring into each other's eyes.

"Ahem," a cough comes from the very amused occupant of the other cell.

Tashigi stumbles backwards, and Zoro's hand shoots out from between the bars, grabbing her wrist and preventing her from falling. A fierce blush forms on Tashigi's cheeks as she regains her balance. Zoro releases her wrist, taking a step backwards as he does so. Tashigi leaves the room and Zoro plops onto the ground, shooting a glare at Sanji.

Sanji shrugs innocently, a smile spread wide on his face.

"You scared her," Zoro grumbles as he lays down flat on his back.

"No, you did," Sanji scoffs lightly as he lays down as well.

With the two prisoner's source of entertainment gone, all that is left to do is sleep.

_On the Going Merry_

Nami lays out her copy of a marine ship's blueprints that she conveniently "found" on one of the recent islands. "Well, unless I'm mistaken, Zoro and Sanji will be held…. Here. If we get really close to the back of their ship, Luffy, Robin, and myself can jump aboard while Chopper and Usopp maintain Merry. Usopp, we will call you on the mini-mushi when we are done freeing Zoro and Sanji. Clear?"

"Hai!" The crew responds enthusiastically, ready for this daring task that lies ahead of them.

Usopp raises his hand, "Nami?"

Nami points at him with a smile, "Yes Usopp?"

Usopp points to the front of the ship, "While we were talking, we kind of caught up to the marine boat. Look!"

Sure enough, Smoker's boat is only about 100 yards away from them, just chugging along, the Merry hasn't even been detected yet.

"Yosh, Luffy, Robin, let's go." Nami rolls up the ship's blueprints, places them in her pocket, and goes to the front edge of the ship. "How are we going to get there?" she wonders aloud.

Her question is answered as Luffy extends one of his arms and wraps it tight around her waist, pulling her to his side. He looks over at Robin, as if asking if she needs to be carried too.

Robin shakes her head no, "I have my own way to get across, Cien Fleur." 100 hands sprout from the Going Merry and the marine ship, coming together to make a bridge.

Robin starts walking across, so Luffy stretches his free arm and grabs onto the marine boat, and then launches himself and Nami to safety on the other side.

"Baka!" Nami punches Luffy on the head after they crash hazardly onto the boat. "I thought I was going to die!"

"Nami…" Luffy rubs his new goose egg while he groans out a complaint, "We were fine the entire time, and you didn't need to punch me."

Robin steps off of her hand bridge, coming to stand next to Nami and Luffy. Her hand bridge goes 'poof' into a bunch of flower petals. "Shall we go?" she asks calmly.

"Finally, someone with common sense, thank you Robin." Nami says happily.

Ignoring the comment, Luffy pumps his fist in the air and immediately runs off to find Zoro and Sanji.

Nami watches him run for about 3 seconds then… "Luffy, that's the wrong way."

Luffy freezes, and then runs back to them. "Which way navigator?"

Nami pull out her recently stored blueprints and shows Luffy. "We need to straight, then the first left, then three rights, and we should be there.

Luffy nods, and takes the lead in finding them, of course, marines soon notice them, and like school hallways, those halls are narrow. After just two minutes of infiltrating the boat, Luffy, Nami, and Robin are faced with hundreds of marines all trying to block their path.

_In the cell room_

Tashigi appears at the door pushing a cart, which has trays of food on it. "Dinner time," she announces.

Sanji gets up immediately, interested in what the marine's had prepared for them. "What do you have for us?" he peers through the bars at the covered plates, trying to guess what could be underneath the metal tin coverings.

Zoro peeks over from where he is laying down, curious besides himself.

Tashigi chuckles lightly at Sanji's curiousness and pulls the tops off of the plates to reveal, mini hamburgers and fries. "We forgot to tell the cooks we were expecting prisoners, so they just gave me some servings of what they are giving out in the cafeteria tonight." She unlocks a small tab at the bottom of the bared door, and pulls it open, sliding the plate through the flap.

"Thank you," Sanji says graciously as he takes one of the mini-burgers off of the plate. He takes an experimental bite, and an instantaneous smile grows on his face. "This, is very good, compliments to the chef."

Tashigi grabs the second plate and pushes it into Zoro's cell, "Hey, got food for you, get over here and eat it."

Zoro rolls over and glares daggers at Tashigi, "What if I'm not hungry?" he says.

"That can't be true, you have been through a pretty intense experience, and you probably haven't eaten anything since your lunch time on your pirate boat."

Zoro shrugs, "What if I never eat, and just starve myself before we reach the next island?"

Tashigi crosses her arms, not backing down from the challenge, "I won't let that happen, you will eat whether you want to or not Zoro."

Sanji glances over from his burgers, but says nothing.

Zoro goes from glaring, to a very confused expression, "Why did you just…."

His question is cut off by an alarm blaring loudly overhead. "Intruder alert, intruder alert, intruder alert."

Sanji chuckles at the convenience of the moment, "You going to go take care of that?"

Tashigi sighs, "Yea, it's probably your pirate friends, they will soon realize that none of you will be escaping from this boat. Tashigi relocks the little food tabs at the bottom of each cell and exits the room.

Smoker is waiting for her outside, "It's straw hat, and he's at the rear of the ship."

"Yes sir, I will take care of him," Tashigi draws shigure and slashes once at the air in front of her, ready for the upcoming battle.

Smoker shakes his head no, "I will take out the straw hat, you take care of the others, we are still unsure of what their numbers are."

Tashigi nods, "Hai!"

_With Luffy, Nami, and Robin_

"Gomu gomu no, bazooka!" Luffy launches his arms forward, finally clearing a path for the group. They charge down the free space, and are suddenly face to face with Smoker and Tashigi.

"Straw hat Luffy," Smoker exhales cigar smoke into Luffy's face, causing him to cough. "I will defeat you."

Luffy's hacking turns into a hearty laugh, "You can't beat me smoky, move out of the way so I can rescue my nakama."

Smoker scoffs, "Not going to happen brat." The conversation considered complete, Smoker turns into smoke and charges at Luffy, throwing him through a wall. Smoker follows through the Luffy shaped hole, and Nami and Robin are left with Tashigi.

Nami holds her clima-tact level in front of her body, ready for a fight.

Tashigi holds out shigure, just as ready for the battle.

Robin takes a step to the side, she's going to sit this one out.

"Damn you pirate," says Tashigi, "I will defeat every last one of you."

Nami pauses before charging, "You hate pirates?"

Tashigi nods, "Pirates are dirty scum, I can't stand any of them!"

Nami chuckles, "From what I heard, you and Zoro are pretty friendly."

"What?" Tashigi shakes angrily, "We are not! Where did you hear that?"

"From Zoro," Nami takes this opportunity to charge at the unfocused Tashigi, easily knocking shigure out of her hands and into a nearby wall. "Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice."

Tashigi glares angrily at Nami, absorbing the fact that she just lost to the second weakest crew member (weakest being Usopp) on the boat. "Why are you a pirate?" she asks.

"Easy, I'm a pirate because I'm following the person who saved me." Nami replies, "Many of us are pirates for that same reason, together under Luffy."

Tashigi looks confused and flustered, "You didn't become a pirate to steal things?"

"No… Not all pirates are like that, just like not all marine's are low and dirty." Nami says, making sure to stay between Tashigi and her sword that is embedded in a nearby wall. "You shouldn't have such a closed mind to what you don't understand."

Tashigi takes a small step to the left, inching her way around the room, towards her sword. "What about you?" Tashigi looks over at Robin, "Why did you become a pirate under Luffy, from what I have read, you have never been loyal to a crew before now."

Robin looks slightly surprised at being asked, but says, "When I had accepted death, Luffy saved me, and then one by one, the crew accepted me. It's a feeling of belonging, like the people you are sailing with actually care about your well being."

Nami glances over at Robin, surprised at hearing such a long, thought out answer. Tashigi takes this moment to push Nami's clima-tact out of her path, dashing over to shigure. She draws it out of the wall and turns to face the pirates.

Nami checks her watch, and takes note of the time, "Robin, we have to get moving, can you take care of her please?"

Robin nods, "Diez fleur," 10 hands pop out, immobilizing Tashigi. Nami walks up to her and fishes through her pockets, easily coming up with the key to Zoro and Sanji's cells.

"You shouldn't carry important keys on you like this," she comments, "they are easily stolen."

Tashigi glares daggers at the teen, but can not wiggle free. Nami knocks her out with a swift punch to the side of the head.

"Let's go find Luffy," Nami walks over to the Luffy shaped hole and peers through it. "Oi, Luffy, how's it going?"

Luffy is still locked into combat with Smoker, exchanging punches, "Go ahead without me while I deal with Smoky," he says while dodging a smoke punch.

Nami nods and turns to Robin, "Let's go." Nami and Robin set off on their original path, now only a few hallways away form Zoro and Sanji.

They fight through a few more mobs of marine's and eventually reach the cell room. Robin and Nami slip inside the room, making sure that no marines see them go in.

The room is dark, but two people's silhouettes can be seen, one in each cell, presumably Zoro and Sanji.

"Look," a voice comes from one of the cells, "I ate all of the little hamburgers, are you happy Tashigi?"

"What are you babbling about Zoro?" Nami crosses the open space and starts fiddling with the keys, trying to find the right one to go into the cells.

Sanji laughs, "Zoro had a little fight with his girlfriend earlier about him eating all of his food."

Zoro jumps up from where he is sitting, his arms up in defense, "She is not my girlfriend, it's not like that!"

Nami wiggles the next key into the keyhole and turns it, hearing a satisfying "click."

"You can argue about this later, for now, it's time to go." Nami swings open Sanji's cell and quickly opens Zoro's as well.

The four of them exit the cell room, and make their way back to where Luffy should still be fighting Smoker. Well, three of them go back to Luffy, one of them makes a wrong turn and starts to head deeper into the ship.

Zoro of course doesn't notice that he is away from the group until about 10 right turns and 4 left turns later.

"Why did they all wander away from me?" he asks aloud as he stumbles onto a dead end. Fortunately for Zoro (or maybe unfortunately) he eventually finds someone to ask for directions. This person is none other than Tashigi, who is nursing her aching head as she goes back to her room to get some advil.

Zoro freezes and points, "You!"

Tashigi takes a little longer to process what she sees, "Why aren't you with your crew?" she asks tiredly, one hand resting on the hilt of shigure.

Zoro scoffs, and then pauses, as he can't think of a good excuse.

"You got lost, didn't you?" Tashigi smiles slightly at the thought of the amazing Roanoa Zoro getting lost on a marine ship that has directional signs pointing out where you need to go.

"Maybe," Zoro huffs, "Which way to Luffy and Smoker's fight?"

Tashigi stands there for a moment, just watching Zoro, considering her options. "Hold on a moment," she says, "Let me get something from my room, and then I will take you there."

"Really?" Zoro asks, surprised and a little suspicious. "Where is your room?"

Tashigi points at the door that Zoro is standing next to, "Right there, now just wait a moment."

Zoro leans against the opposite wall, keeping one hand on the hilts of his swords just in case.

Tashigi disappears inside the room, and comes out a minute later, looking much happier, "Let's go."

Tashigi walks down in the opposite direction that Zoro was heading, and he follows. "Why are you helping me?"

"It's not because I like you guys or anything, I just don't like capturing pirates using cheap methods. When we get on land, we are going to tell the admiral that this new technique was an absolute failure. I know that Smoker would agree that this isn't how he wants to capture you." Tashigi keeps her eyes trained forward, not looking at the swordsman.

Zoro nods, "Ok."

The rest of the trip is made in silence, and when Zoro and Tashigi get to the battlegrounds, everything is quiet there too. Luffy is sitting on the ground with a goose egg growing on his head (courtesy of Nami), Robin and Sanji are watching in amusement, and Smoker is no where to be seen, he had disappeared shortly after Tashigi had left to get medicine.

"Oi, Zoro!" Luffy yells and waves when he recognizes his moss haired crewmate from down the hall.

Zoro turns to face Tashigi, "Thank you," he murmurs quietly.

"Your welcome, next time we meet, I will beat you in a sword fight fair and square and turn you in to the government." Tashigi starts just as quietly, but raises her voice for the end bit.

Zoro laughs and walks away, waving over his shoulder, "See ya."

"See ya," Tashigi watches him walk away, and for the first time, it is ok letting him escape. Tashigi shakes her head to clear it, that's a weird thought, it should never be ok to let pirates of any kind escape. This is going to take some thinking through.

Down on the other end of the hallway, Nami pulls out her mini-mushi and calls over to Usopp. "Ok, bring the Merry real close and we will all jump on."

"Ok Nami," the snail says.

All five crewmembers head to the back ledge of the marine ship, and get ready to jump.

The Going Merry pulls up until it is almost touching the other boat. All five members easily make it back onto the Merry, and a huge sigh of relief can be heard when they realize that everyone is back on the right boat.

Luffy pumps his fist in the air enthusiastically, "Yosh! We are all back on Merry, time to go to the next island!"

Zoro glances out at the marine ship that is quickly getting away from them, and notices someone standing on the back deck, watching the Going Merry. Nami notices and looks out, recognizing the person standing on the marine boat. "It's not over yet," she comments.

Zoro sighs, "It probably never will be."

Sanji shakes his head, "That's not true, when you convince your girlfriend to become one of our nakama is the day that Smoker will finally leave us alone."

"Tashigi is not my girlfriend!"

"Who said I was talking about Tashigi?"

The whole crew bursts into laughter, and one epic pirate adventure comes to a close.

Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi Zoro Tashigi

WOAH THAT IS SO LONG, I don't think I have any one-shots of this insane longness. Well, now I do, but I don't think I did before this post. I'm super excited! I hope you all enjoyed this.

Please leave me a review, especially since this is so long, what worked? What didn't work? Let me know!


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